Stems: A Village Diary
by EmD23
Summary: A collection of tales centering on the lives of the Leaf Village's many inhabitants. First stem: Twelve year old Anko receives a less than warm welcome when she returns from Orochimaru.


A/N: Stems: A Village Diary is a set of stories revolving around the many characters of Konoha for when I run into writers' block. This means the updates will be random. They can happen back to back or once a year, who knows? It's a storage for my ideas. Go ahead and take a look =]

Story One: Past and Present

The first time someone hisses 'Snake Bitch' as she's walking down the crowded streets of Konoha, Mitarashi Anko feels her bottom lip quiver and her head is kept down as she makes her way to her barren and lonely apartment, where she promptly cries herself to sleep. The sleep brings no comfort, for all she can dream about is a sick, pasty complexion and a slimy tongue running down the length of her spine.

The second time someone calls her a 'Snake Bitch' Anko keeps her head up. She's realized that the names will come and letting them get to her will not accomplish anything. However, her flash of pride has damaging results and the name calling grows progressively worse. When someone calls her a 'slimy slut' and a tomato hits the side of her head she takes off in a run and ends up sobbing against a training log in the fields, her body shaking and her sobs coming out as desperate gasps for air as she scolds herself for her weakness and stupidity. She wonders why she insists on trying to live each morning. It'd be easier to end it. She doesn't notice the shadow of an observer until she looks up into his concerned face. That day, Anko makes her first true friend.

The third time someone calls her a 'Snake Bitch' Anko has all of half a second to realize she's been insulted before Shiranui Genma decks the offender right across the face and knocks him out. When Anko stares horrified as the civilians began to whisper, she tugs at his sleeve and whispers, "Why did you do that? You'll get in so much trouble!"

The Tokubetsu Jounin, standing proudly at 22 and ten years her senior, rolls the senbon in his mouth, seemingly not bothered by the fact he just attacked a civilian and ruffles her hair. "It was worth it."  
That's when Anko knows she's in love.

She follows him around like a lost puppy. In the back of her mind she knows it's pathetic but her previous crushes consist of boys who'd pull her hair and call her icky and a snake bastard who used her and tossed her aside like trash. She likes the fact that her new crush is warm and sunny and smiles at her and there's absolutely no judgment in his eyes. She loves him, she's going to marry him and she doesn't give a damn that no one will ever approve of her. He's all she needs.

Five months later he introduces her to his newest girlfriend, some stupid bimbo named Kaoru and Anko leaves the clearing in furious tears. She hears him calling her name but ignores him until he catches up to her (quite easily) and asks him what's wrong. And in that moment Anko doesn't care that she's only 12 and he has a girlfriend and no one could ever love the stupid, slimy, damaged snake bitch who ran off with the infamous traitor. She pulls him down, rips the senbon from his mouth and crushes her lips against his.

The only reason he doesn't stop it immediately is because he's too shocked. But he quickly regains his bearings and pulls away from her inexperienced lips. He sees her broken expression and pulls her into a hug. She struggles at first but eventually ends up sobbing into his chest and asking why he doesn't love her. He doesn't quite know what to say but her rocks her gently and whispers that he's come to see her as the little sister he never had and that he does love her, but not in the way that she wants. She asks if it's because she's Orochimaru's damaged goods and a wave of rage courses through him. He forces her to look at him and tells her that she is most definitely not anything of that bastard's and that she shouldn't ever call herself that again. Her eyes glistens and she asks him if he's ever going to leave her. He kisses her forehead.

"I'm not going anywhere. Be strong."

Eventually it stops hurting when he parades around the village with a different girl on his arm. He does like to run through them. She comes to see him as the older brother she's always wanted but at 13 she's too old to start calling him 'Niichan' so she sticks to calling him her best friend. When her apartment's emptiness becomes too much for her she asks him if she can move in with him and he eventually agrees and through him she meets other people. There's the scarred guy Raido and the mysterious Aoba, the goofballs Kotetsu and Izumo and suddenly she has friends. She remembers his words to be strong and decides it's time to renew her ninja status.

As the years grow by she gets her own place and ends up under Ibiki's tutelage. She knows that the fact she enjoys interrogating people and watching them break under questioning and torture is fucked up but honestly her entire life is fucked up and she's happy she can finally be good at something. When she makes Tokubetsu Jounin she finds Genma in a bar and promptly glomps him. When the whispers that the sultry and dangerous Anko turns to mush when it comes to Genma so he must be giving her quite the dicking start she pulls out a kunai and stares them all into submission until they're pale and looking elsewhere.

She enjoys sleeping around just as much as he does and when Aoba remarks it one day at the bar Genma chokes on his drink but Anko wraps an arm around his shoulders (she's quite drunk) and cheerfully announces that they're the sluttiest siblings in the entire village and the entire group laughs and he subtly whispers in her ear, "I'm proud of you," and she knows exactly why.

And now the Chunin Exams are coming up and she's finally allowed to proctor. She's practically skipping with a manic grin on her face when she notices the Kyuubi brat talking animatedly with his team. Hatake is reading his stupid book, the pinkhead is clearly annoyed and the Uchiha appears uninterested but she can see the bonds forming and she's suddenly reminded of her younger self. She's glad he's found people who care about him (especially that fine piece of ass Iruka) and she's sad that it couldn't have been her. However, she knows having the Kyuubi brat hanging out with the Snake Bitch would have made it worse for them both so she had to stay away. Stupid fuckers.

And she goes into the bar, finds the usual crew with her usual seat next to her brother and remembers that day when she contemplated ending it all. She glances around at her laughing friends, feels the warmth of the atmosphere and she leans to her right and quickly places a gentle kiss on Genma's cheek. She glares at the group when they all giver her looks and says, "What? You guys know he always turns me into a pussy!" The group laughs and he rolls his eyes. She reaches counter and discretely gives his hand a squeeze. "Thank you," she whisper softly. Today is the day he reached out to her all those years ago. He returns her squeeze and nods before turning his attention to the attractive bar maid. Anko grins and scans around for today's dessert (Iruka continues to refuse her) and knows she doesn't have to explain.

He understands. He always has.

Later that night, someone tries to call her a 'Snake Bitch' and he ends up buried headfirst into a wall. The annoying yet sweet thing about it, Anko thinks as she lays in bed, is that Raido beat her to it.

A/N: Re-uploaded because it was deleted due to the summary not being PG. Fixed that and edited it a bit.


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